Avoid SeaTac

[Sauvignon]

SeaTac is the worst international airport I have experienced. The one single positive thing was that I didn't have to take my belt off going through security!

 

The Signage is very poor, the baggage carts are ridiculously expensive and the catering facilities are very limited and of poor quality.

 

Next time we will use Vancouver again, any extra cost will be worth it.

[hazeleyes]

SeaTac is the worst international airport I have experienced. The one single positive thing was that I didn't have to take my belt off going through security!

 

The Signage is very poor, the baggage carts are ridiculously expensive and the catering facilities are very limited and of poor quality.

 

Next time we will use Vancouver again, any extra cost will be worth it.

 

So sorry to hear you didnt like the airport. We just arrived back to NJ via SeaTac and it went rather smooth. We used Delta. It was only about a half hour ride from the cruise port and the cost for all 6 of us with luggage was about 38.00 total trip cost. We gave the guy a 12 dollar tip since we had alot of luggage and we had made prior arrangements with him to pick us up at the cruise port as soon as we exited the ship. He was on time and was very nice.

[Splinter]

I have always had good service and good experiences at SeaTac when I travel there either for business or pleasure. Sorry you had a bad experience...that is one experience. I am sure there are examples of poor experiences at Vancouver too (in fact I could tell you a couple....).

[scottbee]

SeaTac is the worst international airport I have experienced. The one single positive thing was that I didn't have to take my belt off going through security!

 

The Signage is very poor, the baggage carts are ridiculously expensive and the catering facilities are very limited and of poor quality.

 

Next time we will use Vancouver again, any extra cost will be worth it.

 

Spoken like someone who's never seen Terminal 3 at LAX. I use SeaTac a fair bit, and while it's not the great, there is a good food court between the C and B concourses.

[3sistersact]

So sorry to hear you didnt like the airport. We just arrived back to NJ via SeaTac and it went rather smooth. We used Delta. It was only about a half hour ride from the cruise port and the cost for all 6 of us with luggage was about 38.00 total trip cost. We gave the guy a 12 dollar tip since we had alot of luggage and we had made prior arrangements with him to pick us up at the cruise port as soon as we exited the ship. He was on time and was very nice.

 

Who did you use to take you back to the airport? It sounds like disembarking went well for you. Did you go off in the first walk-off group? What time did you get to the airport? We also will have a group of six and we take off before noon. Thanks, Hazeleyes, for the answers!

[PagingMyPast]

Who did you use to take you back to the airport? It sounds like disembarking went well for you. Did you go off in the first walk-off group? What time did you get to the airport? We also will have a group of six and we take off before noon. Thanks, Hazeleyes, for the answers!

 

Yes, I'd love to hear about your debarkation too! I have to catch a 10:07 am flight :eek: out of SEA getting off the Golden P on 7/11/09. My travel agent told me it wouldn't be a problem but now I'm hearing it may be next to impossible. :confused: I can't afford to change to a later flight - $1035 to change to tickets! Thought I could pay the $50 standby fee and take a chance, but NWA told me that is ONLY for flights operated by NWA and it seems most that day are not :(. I'm a total newbie at this so welcome any and all suggestions to make debarkation and flight check-in go FAST! I'm totally stressing :( now and really upset about this. I'm such a dork! Wish I would have found this board before I listened to my travel agent. Thanks!

[zephyr17]

One tip -- you can use ANY security checkpoint at SEA, the "sterile area" is common. Sometimes one or the other checkpoint has significantly longer waits than another one. If the line seems long at the recommended one, check out the others. SEA is a pretty compact for a major airport and the checkpoints are not terribly far apart.

 

Get on the first group/self disembark, whatever, just get off the ship as fast as you can, and grab a cab. Since what's done is done, you stand a reasonable chance of making it, but there is no room for error or delay at all.

 

BTW - sounds like the OP has never been the old AA terminal at JFK, either. It's an airport, what do you want?

[Lois R]

SeaTac is the worst international airport I have experienced. The one single positive thing was that I didn't have to take my belt off going through security!

 

The Signage is very poor, the baggage carts are ridiculously expensive and the catering facilities are very limited and of poor quality.

 

Next time we will use Vancouver again, any extra cost will be worth it.

 

Sorry it was so bad.:eek: I have flown into and out of there quite

a few times over the past few years and had the opposite

experiences.:D

Everything went quite smoothly.

The signage? Fine for me, never used any baggage carts

so I had no problems with them and catering facilities??:eek:

Are you talking about restaurants in the terminal?:confused:

I guess poor quality is different to each person....I found

a great seafood place for a wonderful meal on my last trip.

Actually they have a terrific website and has all the dining

options listed.

Full Service Dining

Casual Dining

Food To Go

There has to be 30 different options!

 

Check this out:

http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/shopdine/restaurants-type.shtml

[OldCodger73]

SeaTac is the worst international airport I have experienced. The one single positive thing was that I didn't have to take my belt off going through security!

 

The Signage is very poor, the baggage carts are ridiculously expensive and the catering facilities are very limited and of poor quality.

 

Next time we will use Vancouver again, any extra cost will be worth it.

 

Wow, someone had a bad day! Maybe Sauvignon can be more explicit on what he feels the problems were.

 

I've always found signage to be adequate and consistent with other international airports I've used. Don't know about the baggage carts as I never use them, of course some people feel that if the carts aren't free they're too expensive. As too catering facilities, I assume Sauvignon means places to eat. It sounds like he never got out of "S" terminal because in the Grand Concourse there's excellent food choices.

 

As to YVR, based on my arrival experiences be prepared for a very long trek from the gate your plane lands at to C&I and heaven help you getting through Immigrations in a timely fashion if the wide body flights have arrived from Asia.

 

It would also be interesting to know what Sauvignon's home airport is.

[wg6530]

Hmmm. I liked SeaTac. Arrived smoothly both times. No trouble find my way. Nice meals at airport restaurant, though pricey as always. No security hassles. Clean. I guess YMMV.

 

Now OTOH, our terminal at MIA was poorly marked. SJU was dirty and hot with inadequate seating. Found our LGA terminal was old and crowded with nothing to beyond past security point. But, they are airports, not cruise ships or amusement parks, so I try to take it in stride.

[49er]

Have used SeaTac many times and have never had a problem. We like the food court area as it is very "Airy" and offers great views of airplanes landing and taking off. And Ivar's fish and chips are hard to beat. I agree with others about LAX. Awful! JFK, ATL, IAD and ORD are the pits as well.

 

49er

[OldCodger73]

I guess Sauvignon did a "hit and run".

 

There's one problem that sometimes occurs at SeaTac for those returning rental cars. The rental car drop is across from the terminal and has only one entrance. On very heavy passenger days traffic into the return area can really back up.

 

My least favorite airports are LAX, especially Terminal 3, which seems almost third world; MIA, which is really confusing and poorly laid out; and the old DET before the remodeling and expansion.

[deepnite10]

we did nt have much a problem at all..and im really sorry for the inconvience anyone had there..

 

on arrival we were directed to ground transportation and got a

Grayline shuttle, actually a bus to the pier area and they drop d us off

infront The Edgewater..

 

our flight out was a SNAP..a real SNAP!!..i had read that it could be awful

getting thru the airport so we arrived a hr early..no need to do that..

 

we flew Southwest..the driver drop d us off infront of their luggage

drop off area where Southwest had 2 desk to check in our luggage for us

at NO EXTRA CHARGE..3 bags and i gave them a $5 tip..they ll be signage

all over stating various charge s..but, that was for extra luggage services if you have more that 2 pieces of check-in per person..

 

they also printed out our boarding pass s as well..from the time we were

drop d off and thru security it was about 20 mins..:)..we had so much time left over that we had lunch at Anthony s and then a coffee at

Starbucks..